Weird goat behavior

[farmmom]

I posted earlier about a goat that goes nuts about the salt that my son uses to kill slugs. I just noticed that she is chewing on the wood walls of the lean-to and licking the tin siding. I'm trying to figure out why she's doing this and if she is missing something in her diet. Any ideas? None of my other does are doing this.

[catdance62]

I couldnt find your earlier post, but what kind of mineral do you have your goats on now?

[farmmom]

They are on Golden Blend goat mineral - free choice, also baking soda - free choice

[Goat Servant]

She is doing this for no other reason than to freak you out. Mine all have plenty minerals..they chew the hay feeder, they pick places on the barn to chew. Mouthy goats.

[chamoisee]

Do the minerals contain salt?

[farmmom]

Originally Posted by Helianthus

Do the minerals contain salt?

The mineral is 20-24% salt

[catdance62]

Well, Golden Blend is a decent mineral, so i do not know what to tell you....
Mine sometimes chew on the wood boxes we have in the barn for them to lay on. I do not know why, but it is not on-going behaviour.

[Rockytopsis]

I had one goat that licked the new tin siding that DH put on the barn, don't know why she did that. I have another doe that constantly rubbed her horn on the rusty part of the siding. She rubbed it so much that one of her horns is actually shorter than the other. She stopped for a few years and I noticed the other day that she was doing it again for a few days then she stopped again.

[BethW]

I think they do it for many reasons. Our goats will chew on the oak barn from time to time, but the first time we left them for a week (in very good care of course), they chewed a line at mouth level down the entire 40' side of the barn. I think it was anxiety that we were gone and their routine had changed a little.

Did I mention they did this after we spent major amounts of time repainting the barn? Silly goats